Background: Stranger Things is set in the 1980s, when walkie-talkies, phone booths, portable media players such as the Walkman, and boomboxes were widely popular.
Question 1: Think of the items you use to call your friends and listen to music. What has changed since the 80s, and how does it affect our daily life?
Question 2: What else do you do with your smartphones? What would you have to buy to replace your smartphones if smartphones were not available anymore? Altogether, would it be more or less expensive than a smartphone? How does introducing new goods, such as smartphones, impact the CPI? What do you think is different about how we make phone calls nowadays?
Concepts: Technological progress, creative-destruction process
Background: The editor of the Conscience explains that readers prefer to read the news online rather that on a traditional newspaper. Information technologies (e.g., internet) have made this transition possible. Technological progress is an essential component of productivity and is usually considered positive for a country’s economy.
Question: Discuss whether technological progress actually benefits everybody in society. Are there potential losers of technological progress?
Background: Pili and her brother Ioane travel to Hawaii to spend time with their grandfather. In his house, house items have not changed since the 1990s.
Question: Find at least three examples of Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” phenomenon in this clip. What is the impact of the technological innovations Pili and Ioane are used to in New York on our society?
